Sōkōgakure
Sōkōgakure (meaning Village Hidden in Armor) is a ninja village located within the Land of Ore. Soko Was originally a breakaway faction from Iwagakure. This in addition to their highly mercenary nature and willingness to use dishonorable tactic to complete their missions has resulted in Soko having a bad reputation amongst other ninja villages and countries. However they have a good reputation amongst their clients, which have many Guilds, wealthy businesses and criminal groups among them. The village has a reputation for doing shrewd business, and for looking out for the interests on their clients, their fiscal interests in particular. The village has a highly mercenary outlook even for ninja with a general "the client doesn't matter, the job doesn't matter, just so long as the pay is right" mentality. As a result they will do any job they are given without reservation, and will take any client, even other ninja villages, so long as they deem the price to match the deed. They do have one scruple however. They do not take jobs that bring harm, physical or otherwise, to long term clients. This strict "never bite the hand that feeds" policy is their only rule when it comes to taking missions. The village is not particularly well known for their skill in Ninjutsu. They possess jutsu by all means, but their are virtually no Hiden kept by the village, and even their Jonin usually only have a few high level jutsu at their disposal. However their ties with the various smithing and crafting guilds of their home county combined with their skill at accruing funds means that ninja from Soko are usually equipped with high quality and/or unique ninja gear, and they make ample use of this in their missions. History The Land of Ore is a small, but wealthy country. The land possess ample amounts of valuable metals, minerals and crystals within it, some of which are rare or unique to the country. As a result there has always been a great deal of commercial interest in the Land or Ore. A number of guilds started popping up within the country, particularly guilds associated with mining, smithing and other crafts. Thus the country grew wealthy, gaining a reputation for their abundant natural resources, and the craftsmanship of their wares. However this brought with it another issue. The guilds often found themselves being preyed upon by outside forces. Bandits and small raiding parties from other countries frequently raided the Land of Ore in order to steal wealth and resources. This soon became a serious issue, and the guilds petitioned the Daimyo for greater protection. However the Daimyo selfishly kept his soldiers to himself, viewing it as more important that he and his assets were protected against raiders rather than his people and the guilds. More of less left to defend themselves the guilds came up with the best solution that they could. They hired ninjas to protect them and their property. In particular the guilds sought out the ninjas of Iwagakure to protect them. The relationship was profitable for both sides. On one hand the ninjas protected the business of the guilds, for Iwa they received generous payment, and a portion of the materials the guilds possessed. However the raiding was both constant and widespread. It soon became clear that in order to perform their jobs protecting the guilds Iwa would have to establish a somewhat permanent presence in the Land of Ore. Iwagakure set up a fort in the Land of Ore with a permanent staff. This allowed them to have the presence they needed in order to continue the contracts they had made. The ninja of the fort were responsible for missions within the Land of Ore, and would send a portion of their pay back to Iwagakure. This arrangement worked for a time, but sadly an issue arose. Maintaining the fort required a considerable expense. This expense was covered by the revenue of the jobs, but only barely. As a result Iwagakure decided that it would be prudent if the fort covered its own expenses using the profits from the jobs. Iwa began sending less financial and material support to the fort, and as a result the ninja at the fort had to become self-sufficient. In addition to this being assigned to the fort was a more or less permanent posting. Ninja sent there would go many years without returning to the village, and often never returned. As a result Iwa was wary of sending its best ninja on such an assignment. Thus they sent many ninja that were capable, but were not considered to be particularly elite or gifted. Over time being assigned to the fort in the Land of Ore became something akin to exile in Iwagakure. Over time the fort grew and prospered. It went from a fort to a village all its own. However there were murmurs of dissent amongst its inhabitants. They were essentially providing for themselves without help from Iwagakure. In addition Iwa still took a portion of their earnings, and often took back anyone they viewed as having potential, and all this without putting any effort towards the members of this new village. Tired of having their spoils taken without any support the village officially broke away from Iwagakure, naming themselves Sokogakure, and entering a contract with the Land of Ore as its official ninja village. Normally Iwagakure would have taken steps to wipe out the deserters. However Iwa was preoccupied due to tensions that would shortly lead to the Second Shinobi War. Soko was left on its own, and it grew and prospered. By the time Iwagakure had time to seek retribution Soko had become a strong and well fortified ninja village. While Iwagakure could still annihilate Soko the leadership deemed the endeavor to be too costly given the rewards, and thus Soko was allowed to live. However it should be noted that Iwa never did Acknowledge Sokogakure as a sovereign ninja village, and to them it is still simply a den of Missing-Nin. Appearance Strength Category:Villages Category:Fanon Villages Category:Hidden Villages